AMERICAN RESTORATION MOVEMENT PIONEERS ON IMMERSION IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

by Eusebio A. Tanicala

The following quotations will prove to all that what we are talking about in this series is not a recent issue. Our purpose is to have a second look at our present arguments.

Moses E. Lard in Lard’s Quarterly, in the year 1864, said:

“They hold that the Spirit now dwells in Christians, also that it helps our infirmities. But, in addition to this, is the human spirit immersed in it? This presents the precise point of difference if they’re still. I frankly confess I strongly incline to the side of the immersion. If my brethren dissent, they  will do it from the love of truth, and we shall still be one in charity.”

Source : “Baptism in One Spirit into One Body,” Lard’s Quarterly, Vol. I, 1864: 280

Question: Does Moses E. Lard believe that the human spirit is immersed in the Holy Spirit?

__Yes, __No.

John W. McGarvey, in the year 1864, wrote:

“I have for some years been convinced that the immersion in the Holy Spirit is not fully understood and that it needs investigation and discussion de novo. The same may be said of the entire subject  of the Holy Spirit and His work in human salvation.”

Source: “Immersion in the Holy Spirit,” Lard’s Quarterly, Vol. I, Part 2, 1864: 221

Question: Does McGarvey believe there is scanty understanding about the Holy Spirit?

__Yes, __No.

Thomas Munnell, in 1865, declared:

“For several years the conviction has been growing in my mind that this whole subject needed a  thorough re-examination. The confusion of thought manifested in several articles recently published seems to take its rise in a certain error so well sanctified in the minds of our brotherhood for thirty or forty years, that it seems almost sacrilegious to assail it . . . The error is this: That there have never been but two instances of the baptism of the Holy Spirit recorded in the New Testament. So   firmly has this mistake been rooted in the mind, that neither writers nor speakers ever stop to prove it, but take it as granted.”

Source: “Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” Lard Quarterly, Vol. II, p. 155, (1865)

Question: Does Munnell complain that the general impression of the majority of his generation is that there are only two instances of the Holy Spirit pouring out in the Bible?

__Yes, __No.

Question: Based on Titus 3:4-6, do you think Paul, Titus, and the Cretans had experienced an abundant pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon themselves?

__Yes, __No.

Robert Milligan, wrote in the year 1875:

“We have then under the reign of Christ, as elementary ordinances of the New Economy: (1) a baptism in water, in which all penitent believers who confess Christ are introduced into his body; (2) a  baptism in the Holy Spirit, administered by Christ himself to all who are really begotten by the Spirit  and born of water; and, (3) a baptism in fire; by means of which the wicked will be finally overwhelm-   ed in sufferings.”

Source: “Epistle to the Hebrews” N.T. Commentary, Vol. IX, St. Louis, Ohio; Christian Board of Publications  1875: 173

Question: Does Milligan believe that baptism in the Holy Spirit is administered by Christ on those who are born of water?

__Yes, __No.

Question: Does Milligan believe that the wicked will be immersed in fire?

__Yes, __No.

Robert Richardson in 1875, published this:

“The baptism in the Spirit is thus here placed in direct opposition to the baptism in fire (Matt: 3:11-  12) – the former involving the salvation and blessedness of the redeemed as an entire class, and the latter indicating the punishment prepared for the ungodly. . . . This baptism is to be regarded as applicable to the entire class of believers, without exception, since there is nothing whatever in its announcement restricting it to a limited number or to a particular time. On the contrary, the manner of its announcement forbids any such restriction, and leaves it just as universal and as permanent, on the one hand, as the punishment of the wicked remains, upon the other.”

Source: Robert Richardson, A Scriptural View of the Holy Spirit & Office of the Holy Spirit. Cincinnati, Ohio: Chase & Hall Publications, 1875: 20-23

Question: Does Richardson believe that baptism in the Spirit is involved in salvation?

__Yes, __No.

Question: Does Richardson believe that baptism in the Holy Spirit is applicable to all classes of believers and not restricted to a limited number of believers?

__Yes, __No.

Question: Does Richardson believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is as universal and permanent as the baptism in fire?

__Yes, __No.

Conclusion: We have sufficiently proved that this issue is not new. We have quoted historical references that it is an old issue. Those who know their church history and a dissenting opinion, please present your evidence that it has invented this issue in the 21st century of our era. We would appreciate looking at your documents.

Maraming Salamat Po.

(Note: If you have questions, please direct it to eusebio.tanicala@yahoo.com)